My Stay with the Sisters: Poems

By Cheryl Cantafio and Olivia Sutton

My Stay with the Sisters is a book of poems that explores the different emotions and feelings that come with loss. The poet, who lost her mother to pancreatic cancer, drew from her own personal experiences and re-imagined grief and gratitude as sisters. Grief and Gratitude welcome those who have lost someone dear to them to a home-away-

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cheryl Cantafio
• Release date: May 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988045212

Cheryl Cantafio

Cheryl Cantafio is an information technology professional and podcast co-host (You Only Go Once (Y.O.G.O.). This is her debut as an author and poet. She lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband and their two mischievous mini-dachshunds.

Book preview

my stay with the sisters

my stay with the sisters

Poems

cheryl cantafio

cheryl cantafio

contents

Introduction

meet the sisters

welcome to the house

the conservatory

the rage room

the entertainment room

the kitchen

the bedroom

the garden

the goodie bag

Afterword

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Illustrator, Editor, & Project Management

Copyright © 2023 by Cheryl Cantafio

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or technical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author and the publisher.

ISBN 979-8-9880452-0-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-9880452-1-2 (e-book)

Cover & illustrations by Olivia L. Sutton

Edited by Shelby Leigh

Printed in the United States of America.

Content warning: Cancer, Death, Death of a Loved One

Vellum flower icon Created with Vellum

For Mom,

waves hello

I miss you.

For Dad,

who welcomed me into this world with a poem.

introduction

My Mom lost her battle with metastatic pancreatic cancer in April 2022. And while cancer took her from us, it did not define who she was. She was 74 years young, a loving wife of 52 years, a mom, a gigi (grandmother), a sister, an aunt, a friend, and a woman who had more living to do.

Family and friends have been kind and supportive and loving. But, there were many moments when her loss felt unbearable. All I wanted to do was find a place to cry, scream, sleep, remember good times and special moments, breathe, and return to life as a functioning human being. This feeling was—and is—on a loop.

Enter the sisters and their home.

my stay with the sisters was a way to find my words and to get some of the pain out,